ByteDance drastically lowers AI prices to compete in China.

(CLO) ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is stepping up competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) market in China by introducing a series of product updates and offering significant discounts on a new AI model capable of "visually understanding" images, text, and physical objects, providing enhanced reasoning capabilities.

Tan Dai, president of ByteDance's Volcano Engine cloud unit, revealed at a company event on December 19th that this new AI model is extremely competitively priced, at just 0.003 yuan per thousand tokens.

This price is 85% lower than the industry average, allowing users to process up to 284 high-definition images for just 1 yuan. Tokens are the standard payment method when using AI models via application programming interfaces (APIs).

The extremely low cost and powerful visual recognition capabilities of ByteDance's new AI model are part of the company's move to continue its fierce competition with other tech giants like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, as companies race to lower prices and offer free or low-cost AI services to attract customers.

ByteDance's Doubao app on mobile phones. Photo: GI

According to Tan Dai, ByteDance is leveraging Doubao's affordable pricing combined with its powerful cognitive features to unlock numerous application opportunities across industries such as education , e-commerce, tourism, logistics, and transportation. Doubao, ByteDance's chatbot, has become China's most popular chatbot, boasting 60 million monthly users as of last month.

ByteDance also announced new versions of its AI products within its ecosystem. The advanced Doubao Pro version offers powerful improvements in mathematics, reasoning, coding, and expertise, while the new Doubao music version can generate complete three-minute music tracks.

Tan Dai also affirmed that ByteDance is aiming to become the leading AI company in China. In an interview prior to the event, Tan shared: "The current technological revolution is about AI and big language models. Our goal is to be number one in the region, and we are moving towards that goal."

With these moves, ByteDance is striving not only to develop advanced AI technology but also to create attractive pricing strategies to strengthen its position in China's fiercely competitive AI market.

Ngoc Anh (according to SCMP, Tech in Asia)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cong-ty-me-cua-tiktok-dai-ha-gia-ai-de-canh-tranh-o-trung-quoc-post326655.html